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The estranged husband of a Livingston County judge has alleged his wife had an affair with the lead investigator in a double murder trial she presided over in 2013.

Donald Root made the allegations against District Court Judge Theresa Brennan in a divorce filing in December. Separate from that case, the allegation raises concerns about Brennan’s behavior while serving as judge.

The affair between Brennan and Michigan State Police First Lt. Sean Furlong is not in dispute. He admitted the relationship during a deposition taken Jan. 18. He said the relationship did not begin until 2014, after Brennan sentenced Jerome Kowalski in May 2013 to life in prison following his jury conviction for murdering his brother and sister-in-law in 2008.

Brennan declined to comment directly. Her attorney, Michael Quinn, called Root’s allegations “a shameful attempt to intimidate an elected public servant into accepting a sham” in a statement to the Livingston Daily. “We simply are not going to dignify this desperate attempt to smear our client with a response.”

Quinn has filed a motion seeking to limit Root’s attorney to questioning to behavior since September 2013. That motion is scheduled to be heard at 3 p.m. Feb. 7 before Judge Janelle Lawless in Ingham County. Lawless was assigned the divorce case after all Livingston County judges recused themselves.

The case is tentatively set for trial in May.

Root’s attorney, Tom Kizer, who has his own well-known contentious history with Brennan, declined to comment about the case.

In an affidavit filed Jan. 30, Root accused Brennan of having “secretive” affairs with two men and using “marital funds extensively to support her lifestyle outside the marriage relationship” despite pledging her faithfulness to him during their separation, which began in 2013.

Root alleges Brennan had a “romantic relationship” with Furlong – the lead investigator on the Kowalski case – “dating as far back as 2009 or before.” He goes on to say he believes Brennan concealed her relationship with Furlong, who was a sergeant at the time, “leading up to and during a murder trial.”

Furlong did not respond to a message left seeking comment.

In his deposition, Furlong acknowledged he had a relationship with the judge “for approximately a year” and that he “ended it in 2015,” which means “it could not have been in 2013.” He said, however, that he first recalls the two of them feeling something more than friendship between “Christmas 2013 (and) early 2014.”

Furlong also noted that his relationship with Brennan “ended or started after” she and her husband “had been separated for a while.”

When asked whether he ever contacted Brennan during the murder trial, Furlong said, “No.” Brennan then interrupted Furlong’s deposition, telling him he was forgetting he did have one telephone contact with her during the trial, according to court documents.

Furlong then said he could not recall whether he had contact with the judge during the trial, which could have been inappropriate. Furlong also said that in an unrelated murder case before a Circuit Court judge, that judge invited him to lunch, but he “decided not to go” because it could be “viewed inappropriately if the prosecutor or defense were not there.”

Root’s affidavit also alleges Brennan misused marital money by paying for Furlong’s airline ticket for a trip the judge and officer took to Florida; in his deposition, Furlong confirms Brennan paid for the ticket, but he reimbursed her.

Brennan’s former law clerk, Jessica Yakel, said in a deposition on Jan. 18 that the judge had her book Furlong’s flight using Brennan’s personal credit card while Brennan booked the same flight for herself using her husband’s credit card. She said the transactions were made while Brennan was sitting on the bench.

Yakel outlined several other instances where she handled personal tasks for the judge while on county time, including running errands and staining Brennan’s deck.

Brennan, in her deposition, disputed Yakel’s claims.

On Friday, attorney Neil Marchand, who also represents Brennan, in an email described Yakel as a disgrunted former employee. He wrote that "Yakel, who was a part-time staff member during part of her employment, was on personal time when performing any non-court related work. Additionally, Judge Brennan personally compensated Ms. Yakel for any non-court related work done on her behalf."